Rainbows in London

The last few weeks have been packed. While I feel like I haven't stopped, I'm leaving for Continental Europe tomorrow afternoon and wanted to update this before I left. I am so excited about my three week eurorail trip, and I can't wait to see so many different cities and countries. I'm going to keep my own travel journal while I'm gone, but I'll be sure to post the highlights and tons of pictures when I return :). I know I will be thinking about all of my friends and family while I am gone and wishing you were all here with me. I'm also sure I will be thinking about my finals that begin in six weeks, but since I've been keeping up with the work I'm sure those will go well.

Anyways, I will start where I left off on my last entry from Monday March 15th. Monday night I went out dancing at tigertiger with my friend Jenni and her boyfriend who was on spring break. Monday is tigertiger's student night, so cover was inexpensive and there were a ton of London students. I had a great time dancing and meeting people, and I know it is something I will want to do again before I leave this amazing city. While Tuesday was a quiet day, Wednesday was quite an interesting St. Patrick's Day. Along with having the Practice of Medicine class as normal, our class spent St. Patrick's Day at the Old Operating Theatre and Herb Garret where we got to see what surgery was like before the use of anaesthetics and antiseptics. It was an amazing museum, and I'd recommend it to any medical student who happens to come to London. Friday I had my lab practical in my physiology class, which was an interesting experience due to the fact that one of us had to preform an exercise test in order for the rest of us to determine their VO2max. My friend Danielle volunteered, and while I kept trying to cheer her on, I was only making her laugh...I'm just glad I didn't have to do the experiment! After class, Danielle and I met up with Danielle's friend on spring break and Danielle's boyfriend to have dinner at Bella Italia, an amazing London Italian chain restaurant. While the week was nice, the week to follow would be one of my favorites in London.

Filled with Brits and a phi mu, this past week was absolutely brilliant. Two Sundays ago, my friend Sulin invited me over to her London School of Economics Flat building where her British friends hosted a tea society. It was so cool getting to talk and play games with the English students, especially since my flat is not very conducive to meeting people. While I loved the tea and cakes, I loved the company more. I spent the rest of the day studying at Sulin's flat along with our friends Rich and Joelle, and went to dinner at Nando's for a tasty chicken dinner. Since last week was my last full week of classes, Monday and Tuesday were spent writing essays. Wednesday however, was absolutely amazing since along with shadowing in the minor injuries unit, I also got to see the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra perform Stravinsky's The Firebird. Joelle found cheap student tickets and I loved listening to the orchestra preform. After the concert, our group grabbed brownies with one of Jason's female friends from back home. She is actually going into the air force and I was impressed by her stories. Nevertheless, my favorite part of last week was the last few days when Alex A. came to visit.

Alex is another one of my sorority sisters from Case, and after she graduated from undergrad she decided to spend a year teaching English to French students in Paris. I loved having her visit, and right after class on Friday we began our adventure. On Friday, we roamed through Kensington gardens, saw beautiful rainbows, went to the Peter Pan Statue from Hook, ate cupcakes from Hummingbird Bakery in Notting Hill, went window shopping on Oxford Street and Regent Street, had dinner in China Town with her French friend, and saw Chicago for half price. Our seats for Chicago were amazing, and while I'd seen the show in Cleveland, it didn't compare to the London performance. I also blew up an air mattress that I borrowed from Jenni by myself, and was quite proud of my accomplishment :). Saturday, we woke up early and went to platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station from Harry Potter and then made our way to Camden town where I got an amazing summer dress for just a few pounds. I then went back with her to Piccadilly Circus, stopping in Traflagar square to show her the lions and quatrefoils. While Alex spent the night with other friends, I did meet back up with her in the morning when we saw Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. Both absolutely amazing sights, I loved learning about all of the history of the British royalty. My favorite part though was seeing a 530 karate white diamond, which is the biggest diamond with perfect clarity in the world. I was sad to leave Alex at the end of the day, but I know she had an amazing time in London.

Finally, last but definitely not least, today I accomplished one of my dreams in coming to London. I spent the entire day shadowing on Labor and Delivery at St. Thomas' Hospital. In total, I saw five healthy baby boys come into the world, three via cesarean and two using forceps. One of the forcep deliveries was meant to be a natural birth, and therefore the woman did not have an epidural...when I have babies I will definitely want an epidural haha. Also, it was really interesting to see the forcep deliveries because they are not typically used in America. Another interesting note was that they actually used heroine to give one of the women a spinal tap before the cesarean, which they would never do in the United States. I loved talking with all the doctors, junior doctors (residents), and the patients about the differences between the United States and the United Kingdom in regards to the birthing process. While I was tired and hungry after standing and not eating from 8:30-5:00 today, watching the beautiful babies being born was definitely worth it.

I'm going to miss London in these next few weeks, but I cannot wait to explore other parts of Europe. I'm sending lots of love across the ocean :) xx